Opinion
01-22-00878-CV
12-19-2023
AWAD O. MUSTAFA, Appellant v. TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION, BRIAN DANIEL, ARON S. DEMERSON, JULIAN ALVAREZ, "S. SUNDAY," "P. PAYNE," OFELIADE LEON, HTS SERVICES, INC., TAREK MORSI, MISEL REPAK, MAHMOUD HASSAN, SHAFI MOHAMED, AND YEWANDE "WENDY"ADELAJA, Appellees
On Appeal from the 80th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2022-54542
MEMORANDUM ORDER
PER CURIAM
Currently pending before this Court is the "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices, and Transfer the Appeal to the 14th Court of Appeals," filed by appellant, Awad O. Mustafa, proceeding pro se. In his motion, appellant seeks to recuse each of the justices of this Court, and for the appeal to be transferred to the Court of Appeals for the Fourteenth District of Texas.
Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 16.3 prescribes the procedure to be followed for recusal of an appellate justice:
Before any further proceeding in the case, the challenged justice or judge must either remove himself or herself from all participation in the case or certify the matter to the entire court, which will decide the motion by a majority of the remaining judges sitting en banc. The challenged justice or judge must not sit with the remainder of the court to consider the motion as to him or her.Tex. R. App. P. 16.3(b).
When, as in this case, a party challenges all the members of the court, the motion is decided by the court under the procedures set forth in Rule 16.3. See id.; see, e.g., Cameron v. Greenhill, 582 S.W.2d 775, 776-77 (Tex. 1979) (denying motion to disqualify entire Texas Supreme Court); Cogsdil v. Jimmy Fincher Body Shop, LLC, No. 07-16-00303-CV, 2016 WL 7321788, at *1 (Tex. App.-Amarillo Dec. 12, 2016, order) (treating recusal motion as addressed to entire Court).
Accordingly, upon the filing of appellant's recusal motion and prior to any further proceedings in this appeal, each of the challenged justices of this Court considered the motion in chambers. See Tex. R. App. P. 16.3(b); see also Cogsdil, 2016 WL 7321788, at *1; Cannon v. City of Hurst, 180 S.W.3d 600, 601 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 2005, order). Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris each found no reason to recuse themselves and certified the matter to the remaining members of the en banc court. See Tex. R. App. P. 16.3(b); Cogsdil, 2016 WL 7321788, at *1; Cannon, 180 S.W.3d at 601.
This Court then followed the procedure set out in Rule 16.3. See Tex. R. App. P. 16.3(b); Cannon, 180 S.W.3d at 601. The justices deliberated and decided the motion to recuse with respect to each challenged justice by a vote of the remaining participating justices en banc. See Tex. R. App. P. 16.3(b); Cogsdil, 2016 WL 7321788, at *1; Cannon, 180 S.W.3d at 601. No challenged justice sat with the other members of the Court when the challenge to him or her was considered. See Tex. R. App. P. 16.3(b); Manges v. Guerra, 673 S.W.2d 180, 185 (Tex. 1984); Cogsdil, 2016 WL 7321788, at *1; McCullough v. Kitzman, 50 S.W.3d 87, 88 (Tex. App.-Waco 2001, order).
Having considered the motion as to each challenged justice, and finding no basis for recusal, the motion to recuse is denied with respect to each challenged justice. See Manges, 673 S.W.2d at 185; McCullough, 50 S.W.3d at 89. The Court enters the following orders:
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO CHIEF JUSTICE ADAMS
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Chief Justice Adams, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE KELLY
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Kelly, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE GOODMAN
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Goodman, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE LANDAU
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Landau, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE HIGHTOWER
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Hightower, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE COUNTISS
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Countiss, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE RIVAS-MOLLOY
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Rivas-Molloy, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Guerra, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE GUERRA
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Guerra, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, and Farris.
ORDER DENYING MOTION AS TO JUSTICE FARRIS
To the extent that appellant's pro se "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" requests recusal of Justice Farris, it is ordered that the motion to recuse is denied.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, and Guerra.
ORDER DENYING MOTION TO TRANSFER
Appellant's pro se motion further requests that the Court "[t]ransfer this [a]ppeal to the 14th District Court of Appeals." The authority to transfer appeals among the courts of appeals lies exclusively with the Texas Supreme Court, and this Court therefore has no authority to grant the relief requested by appellant. See Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 73.001 (authorizing Texas Supreme Court to order transfer of cases "from one court of appeals to another").
Accordingly, appellant's request to transfer the appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Fourteenth District of Texas included in his "Emergency Motion to Disqualify or Recuse the Entire Court Justices" is denied by the Court.
The Court consists of: Chief Justice Adams and Justices Kelly, Goodman, Landau, Hightower, Countiss, Rivas-Molloy, Guerra, and Farris.